The long and the short of it, is that Maelstrom Games has been insolvent for the last year or so, continued to take money for orders, orders they knew they couldn't make good on, and just prior to being petitioned into bankruptcy, spun out the events side of their business and their miniature line (Banebeasts/Banelegions) to other companies in order to defraud their suppliers.

I like the Bane* range of miniatures, but this is atrocious.

The sale of assets at below price to "Mierce Miniatures" http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/ and Eye of the Storm http://www.eye-of-the-storm.co.uk are so obviously fraudulent it's insane.

These guys belong in jail.

Last edited by RickyDMMontoya on Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:35 pm; edited 2 times in total

"Sorry creditors, Maelstrom doesn't have any assets at all anymore. Don't look over here at these other two, totally independent fully functioning corporations that have the exact same business as the two successful part of Maelstrom's business that were set up by me shortly before Maelstrom was petitioned into bankruptcy, bought the corporate assets and IP for less than fair market value, and that I am the director of."

So, Tim Fisher, or bananaman on the Herdstone is the Production Manager of Mierce. Rob Lane owned/owns Maelstrom/Mierce.

Tim posts on the Herdstone that Mierce will pick up all unfilled orders from Maelstrom as he "can see what orders have/have not been filled". And then almost talks "Pfft, what up with that Rob Lane guy, huh?" "Anyhoo, I just happen to have a bunch of his stock in my car. I know which customers need to be filled because last night over beers when we were counting the money from unfilled orders (Man, the Porterhouse is good) he told me to be at work for 8 tomorrow as we need to send out a fig or two to build stock into Mierce.

It's real bad. I didn't click on Eric's link at all but I think around late summer Weyland games bought up a big chunk of Maelstroms debt and forced a takeover. They did this after offering to buy MG through eMail is the way Weyland tells the story. I could give a rats either way. None of this was made public as far as I know.

So after Maelstrom finds out "The jig is up!" they announce a "Moving to a new warehouse sale!" and a big 30-50% off a bunch of lines. Also a warning and apology from them that they were flooded with orders so it might be a while to ship stuff out.

Now in fairness SOME people did actually get stuff from Maelstrom during this time. At least people I eTalk too.

Then Maelstrom puts out a "We really don't want to move stuff 50-80% off sale!" so at this time people really start to have their bullshit detectors break a needle off and the truth comes out. I know quite a few people who placed orders for 300 plus GBP's and got ziltch.

Bananaman has been the eFace for Bane legions etc. since I think the range was launched and did a great job of promoting the line. I liked my eDealings with him and I hope he has nothing to do with the fraud. But as the saying goes you can hope in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first.

This really sucks for the online mini buying community. It's shattered trust in buying stuff online because Maelstrom was a trusted established business with a community presence and a brick and mortar location. To get this back stage glimpse of how super shitty their business was (They owed a shitload of cash, over 100 thousand GBP to a single mini supplier!) it seems to have shaken people confidence in buying stuff from eSellers. I mean it is a huge act of trust when you have to pay up front for anything and then hope it comes in the mail.

Malestrom has screwed two different groups of people:1.) The customers who ordered (and paid for) product that they KNEW would never be delivered. Mierce may be making good on Bane* orders, but they are NOT fulfilling orders for any game system or supplier, as they don't have any stock. The've got the molds and designs for Banelegion and Banebeast stuff, so they can crank some out to cover orders that were paid for. They can't crank out any GW figs or Warmahordes, etc.

2.) The creditors and suppliers that Maelstrom owed money to. By transferring everything into these other two companies, there's nothing for the creditors to obtain in the bankruptcy. Since it's obviously a crock of shit, the creditors will probably be able to very easily undo these fraudulent transfers and Wayland will likely end up owning everything anyway.

Without knowing any of the details, it smacks of fraud, and amateurish fraud at that. On the public and on the creditors.

On the upside, the UK has some very strict consumer protection laws, so Mr. Lane could be in some very deep trouble.

I like the Banelegion and Banebeasts range of miniatures. Don't get me wrong. I have like 8 Banebeasts and 15 Banelegion characters. Some of the most beautiful (unassembled) figs I own. But this behaviour is unacceptable.

I strongly suspect that Mierce and the other subsidiaries will have their transfers voided. UK law seems pretty much the same as here, and the transfers sound like they fit under voidable transactions:

The ONLY bit of good news I can find from this is at least Mierce/Maelstrom didn't screw over the sculptors working for them. It's one thing to rip off custoemrs but if the best and brightest sculptors in the world start missing paychecks and look for other work I'd be heart broken.